Ask the staff: wedding season weirdness

Weddings: They're a cornucopia of creative possibilities, I find them incredibly rewarding and I've never had a 'bad' wedding as a photographer. That doesn't mean everything always goes according to plan, though.

It was June of 2012, and I had been blackmailed into photographing my first wedding.

'If you don't want to take photos,' I was told, 'then we just won't have any photos.'

One of my best friends from high school was getting married in his backyard with around a dozen of their closest family members, and they were adamant about having a photographer they knew personally, rather than a stranger. So it was really quite a friendly blackmailing.

What the heck, I thought. I quoted them the princely sum of $250, and everything was set. Then, just a day or two before the wedding, my car sprung a substantial coolant leak. No worries, my 30-year-old motorcycle would get me there. Probably.

Thankfully, the universe had decided enough was enough, and the day proceeded without incident after I toweled off a bit.

And then it rained on the big day, and though my Yamaha got me there just fine, I arrived slightly behind schedule and absolutely soaking wet. Thankfully, the universe had decided enough was enough, and the day proceeded without incident after I toweled off a bit.

I don't shoot weddings full time, but I do at least a few every year. I find them creatively challenging as well as rewarding, and so far, there's not been a 'bad' wedding for me as a photographer. That doesn't mean there aren't always a few hiccups along the way.

And so, now that wedding season is upon us, we polled ourselves as a staff to find out what sorts of 'challenges' we've all faced over our years of photographing weddings, and some themes began to emerge.

'Uncle Bob'

A common tool of choice for an Uncle Bob - an older, preferably double-grip DSLR.

Without fail, most photographers that have shot even a handful of weddings have a story of the affable yet oblivious Uncle Bob. You will know him from the prominence of the large camera dangling from his neck, possibly with his own speedlight attached.

Uncle Bob will good-naturedly ask you what camera you're shooting with ('and why is it covered in black tape?'), what aperture you're using, pronounce ISO like 'eye-soh,' and occasionally suggest that you are just doing it wrong.

But while some of us have encountered Uncle Bobs that are more tenacious or hover-y than others, many are friendly, genuinely curious, and if you gently suggest that you need to concentrate and will catch up with them later, you should find yourself in the clear.

Unfortunate urgings of the bridal party, audacious acts of the guests

Many couples will have some idea of the sorts of photos and moments they would like the photographer to capture throughout the day. One of our staff, however, was instructed by the bride to 'not take any photos showing the front of my face.' Challenge accepted.

The majority of weddings these days seem to involve a good deal of drinking, and indeed, some guests will refuse to attend without an open bar. An open bar is just common decency (in the U.S., anyway). This is not something that is generally taken advantage of by the photographer for obvious reasons, unless of course the bride and groom confront you and insist that you 'get wasted.' One of our staff encountered this from a very stubborn couple, and we surmise that the inevitable crooked horizons were corrected in post.

I was instructed by the bride to "not take any photos showing the front of [her] face."

A common complaint: friends and family holding up phones, tablets and phablets at just the right spot to ruin a photo. The most egregious example of this was a guest getting up and blocking the aisle just after the bride passed him. The photographer missed the father giving his daughter away, but that's alright, average attendee, you have it in Apple Photos forever.

And finally, there's the group shots, where inevitably a family member will stand behind the hired photographer with a phone or compact camera, and snap away. This ordinarily wouldn't be too much of an issue, except it's the cause of many an eye-or-face swap in Photoshop, just to make sure everyone's looking into the right lens.

How does this get worse? Occasionally, that family member's camera will be in Auto mode and fire the flash with every shot, which will trigger any pre-set optically slaved flashes the photographer has set up. This will ruin the hovering family member's image, drains flash batteries unnecessarily, and confuses the family being photographed; an upgrade to radio triggers helps prevent these sorts of situations, but flashes from a competing photographer are still awfully distracting.

The unpredictable, or just plain weird

This is a pig at a wedding I attended as a guest, photographed (poorly) with my phone. Any guest was welcome to go and say hello, the pig was very friendly.

And sometimes, there's just the crazy, random happenstances that don't really fit into any sort of reliable pattern or theme. As above, sometimes the wedding venue is adjacent to a restaurant that grows its own food, and there is a pig. This obviously isn't a grievance per se, that pig was adorable in his own way.

Thankfully, gear failures weren't all that common for us, but one of our staff had an autofocus motor die just as the bride and groom began their walk back down the aisle.

Another time, a group of groomsmen grew demonstrably angry when the photographer would not sit with them at the reception and drink heavily instead of taking photographs.

A guest videographer at one destination wedding set up an enormous ladder to film video from at the back of the group, which would have been less of a problem were he not wearing a kilt. Underwear status remained carefully unconfirmed.

Everyone's got stories

In a follow-up post, we'll be polling some full-time freelance and wedding photogs on some of their more...interesting experiences, so stay tuned for that. In the meantime, do you shoot weddings full-time or on the side, or have attended a wedding and borne witness to an unusual event? Let us know in the comments, and maybe we'll feature your story in a follow up as well!

Comments

I've played "uncle bob" at a few weddings, but never got in the way, and never initiated communication with the pro photographer. I also don't make my photos available until several months after the pro photographer's have been available, and you'd have to ask me for them.

Back in 2004, I shot a few photos at my sister's wedding with my lowly Pana FZ20. I sent them to my sister several months later, and she was a bit upset because she thought they were at least as good as the Pro's pics.

On another note, my wife and I tried to purchase photos from the photographer at a niece's wedding. The photos had to be browsed and purchased via online website, and we never could get it to work properly, thus never purchased any pics (yes, we notified my niece immediately, as well as the website POC). So, please make sure your website is working flawlessly and with different browsers. Avoid the fancy gee-whiz website dressings, as they often cause problems in various browsers.

Two weeks after shooting one wedding, I ran into the bride at a late night club with a different guy. Needless to say, she was a bit shocked and a probably a little embarrassed running into me. Three years later, she hired me to shoot her 2nd wedding. I am not sure that it is a good thing to have repeat business in the wedding field, but it does happen.

I attended a 25th Anniversary Vows Renewal ceremony a couple of years ago and brought my equipment with the hopes of building up my portfolio as an aspiring events/wedding photographer. Well, upon stepping off of the bridal party's party bus at the church, the hired photographer believes that he left his camera bags on the sidewalk in front of the bride's home. He borrows his video guy's car and heads out. In the interim, the full ceremony takes place - procession, vows, blessings, recession, everything. After all has been said and done, here comes the photographer. At the reception, the team approached me to ask if I was willing to give them my pictures to include with the photo package since they only had video from the church. I gave them some but not all of my captures. Once the bride found out what happened, she asked me for my whole batch of photos and those are now proudly displayed within the photographer's video montage and her commemorative album. I'm thrilled!

LOL....just pronounce whatever way you want, nobody's life depends on that Pronunciation! I.S.O if you use acronym or say eye-so if you pronounce it as a word, or who cares if you are a non English speaker!

But my point is: at my wedding, the pro took extra time and patience getting the perfect shot of my mom & dad - she was entering into Alzheimer's and he was very patient and complementary - spending more time with them to get the shot just right.

They've both passed - and today, my wife and I, and my in-laws (quite a bit younger than my parents), love that photo the most because the pro took 5 extra minutes to bring out the best in a woman who was entering that dark path to the end.

It's not an acronym. It's just a word, formed from the Greek root 'isos' (equal to, same as). The true acronym to which you refer is the Int'l Organization for Standardization, which publishes standards for many more industries than just photography for film speed. The ISO 5800:2001 standard is one for color film speed. There's others for b&w, mammography, etc. Industry adopted the ISO term in the 70's from "ASA" (American...) to recognize its affiliated international partners.

Wedding Photographers: PLEASE learn to deliver your photos WITHIN THE HOUR of the wedding event. These days, weddings are designed for social media. Your photos are going to be useless 4 months after the event, when a million people with cell phones already posted pictures of the event.

The sports, fashion, and celebrity industries learned to post event photos immediately. The wedding industry needs to learn to do the same.

You absolutely need to be able to learn to edit quickly - to cut down 3000 photos down to 500, and to grade quickly - adjust exposure, color-correct, etc.

Have a workstation at the event with an editor on hand, with your cameras connected to it via wi-fi, have Google Drive or iCloud photo sharing enabled.

You'll thank me for this, because now you won't have a backlog of post-processing work to do.

Just to entertain this idea: what you're suggesting is ridiculous and near impossible with a one to two person team. If you're just referring to unedited JPEGS that get sent out on disks to the family and friends? That's doable with 2 people, maybe, but quality images that have been edited in post? It's going to take some time.

Of course, if I ever did a wedding I would lay all of this out to the party at the start and give them generous timelines, and even update them as I worked. but the amount of time it takes me to go through 1000 shots, all of burst (so really, 200-400 actual different exposures) and edit them takes a few days at least.

I guess this all depends on the quality of the shots and the quality of the pictures you want from your dollar though. The beauty of it is that no camera photo should match what you're putting out from your DSLR/mirrorless setup. If you're worth the money, anyway.

I usually go through and do a quick edit on a couple dozen images to deliver within a day for just this purpose. Delivering more than that, though, when I'm doing Raw editing on each photo I intend to deliver, would be pretty difficult.

Editing does NOT take a few days. A good editor should be able to edit through hundreds of images per hour. Even a single-person photographer can at least do this nightly. A two person team can do this within the hour.

This is what AP & Reuters and other wire-service photographers do.

I just did a wedding this weekend and delivered hundreds of Raw photos nightly.

It really is a skill that you have to develop, though. When I first started photography, I definitely could not edit as quickly, taking too long to consider each photo, but doing wire work definitely taught me how to go through photos quickly.

Are you people high?! A good photographer who shoots raw, makes the selection, processes the raw and then the Jpeg in PS, has a wedding every weekend, needs about a week to get through a wedding, if not a little more. With wedding piling up, you can expect to deliver weddings within 2-3 weeks at the beggining of the wedding season and by October, you have a 2-3 month delivery time.

Who gives a c**p about wedding photos taken by iphones being available at the second things happen. The best you can do is make a preview with 10-20 images 1-2 days after the event, with carefully selected and processed images, that ooze emotion and quality, and then release all the files after they are good and processed.

If you just deliver all the crap unretouched images within days after the wedding then what the h*ll is the difference between all the snapshooters at the wedding and the hired photographer ? Getting a better shooting point and having better gear ?

Any normal photographer has a hell of a time shooting a wedding, you need to carry all the gear, run back and forth around the couple for 8-12-18 hours that day. Plus the preparation the day before, so much so that you need to take a day off after the wedding and sleep the exhaustion away. Some have families, the have client meetings, shoots during the week, you think photographers are robots that wdint non-stop 12 hours a day, right after the wedding, so they can deliver the files in a few days ? Jeez, the lack of respect this craft gets.

@vfunct:, I work as a professionl photographer since 2008, I have done fashion events, runway, sporting events with multiple matches and all sorts of other events and no one asked for the photos in hours, let alone minutes. We have had 1-2 days delivery terms but veeeery rarely. And if you think an image out of camera is deliverable then I'd reaaly like to show you a before and after retouching, to see what quality looks like. It's sad that all some clients want is low price and quick turnaround. That's fast food photography and I rarely if ever work with such clients.

Edit: I have shot a restaurant that asked for same/nexy-day delivery, true, but the pace was realy slow, they brought a new product to shoot every hour or so so I could edit on the spot. That is impossible to do with runway, fashion, which is edit-intensive, or god forbid, weddings.

Just like with restaurants, taylor made clothing, good quality photography takes time and money.

If you look at any red-carpet event, they're posting pictures to wire services within a few minutes.

Your out-of-camera images are good enough for reception parties. The staged portraits is where you will retouch. You aren't going to retouch the wedding reception party photos, so you're should deliver them immediately.

Would you like to hire a photographer to your wedding that edited the pictures in a few hours ? I definitely wouldn't. Look at the masters of wedding photography, look at the most famous ones right now, like Keda, Sails, Gionis, Yervant, Chrisman, Ivanov, etc and just look at the amount of processing that goes into their files.

Where would those people be without post processing ? They would probably be just another photographer in a sea of photographers looking to make a quick buck.

@vFunct you are right about weddings now being staged mostly for social media. I make sure that I deliver at least 20-40 images as soon as I return from any shoot. I really don't want people uploading phone clicked images before they see my images. This helps in attracting more clients and also sets you apart from the competition who usually deliver at least a week later. But I really doubt the results of your over night editing of all RAW images will be as good as others who take a week or two.

My daughter "essentially" eloped. They (she and husband) hated the idea of such contrived, commercial event, which is what weddings have become. They also agreed it was a huge waste of money.

Instead just close family, and few friends ( all told, about a dozen folks) went to a small Vegas chapel, celebrated in the casino, and everyone attending was encouraged to take as many iphone, P&S pictures as they pleased. Later all the photos were pooled via social media. Really crappy by pro standards but perfectly depict the pure, spontaneous joy of the occasion.

We later surprised them with a check, and together with what the in-laws also gave, covered about half the cost of their future house.

That's fine I guess, but for everybody else who wants to make the celebration more habitable for everybody in the family and close friends, that simply won't work.

Also, many people would argue, what's 5k to celebrate the most important day in both people's lives? For many, that's a lot, but you can save up half of that in a year by just budgeting properly. Not to mention the photos that come from it?

Not bashing your daughter's decision, but don't come on here stating it like it's somehow a better alternative than spending a lot and getting a different experience.

My fiance and I wouldn't think of eloping because that would rob so many friends and family members a chance to see the first wedding in their respective families for quite a long time. It's also probably the only time they'll all meet.

If they Eloped it would be just the two of them. They went with a small wedding . I wonder if they told their friends they thought all modern weddings were contrived and commercialised, their married friends would have loved that. Weddings big and small are what you make of them. They wanted a small wedding and thats great but no need to people down who want to celebrate their love with all their friends and family.

@williams359 , I really didn;t mean to put anyone else's choice in wedding plans down, just expressed my opinion that it's a waste of money. I had been prepared to contribute up to $75K, plus whatever the groom's side was willing. My daughter would have none of that and threatened to "elope". This was a compromise. Rented the Bellagio smallest chapel for an hour, then crossed from the gardens to the Cosmopolitan where everyone had rooms. The dozen or so of us ate at the Cosmo's excellent buffet, then hit the Chandelier Bar in the casino. This is what my daughter wanted, with the values that we tried to instill in her. The money we did give thm afterwards was a completely unexpected surprise. They now own a condo using that cash. Weather the wiser choice would have been to spend that money on one night's celebration instead is an individual decision.

I was that friend with a camera. I introduced myself to the pro and stayed out of the way but got snapping. Two weeks after the wedding I got a call from the pro asking if I was the one with the camera. My first thought was I was in trouble until she said that she had changed CF cards at the signing of the register and had dropped the card in the sand at the beach. While she had the card it was corrupted and had lost all the shots up until the formal post-match photos. In the end the Pro used all my shots of the pre-wedding and the ceremony and a few of the formal ones. The couple got a refund on the photographer’s costs.

Fun fun read in the comments. (1) At family/friend weddings I'm definitely Uncle Bob: I introduce myself to the pro staff and explain that I won't be using flash, will stay out of their way and would be happy to share my images with them. (2) When I do a wedding, I hand out a custom-printed business card when I see someone w/camera or holding up their phone. I mean, really, the people who block a photographer are going to do it anyways. The card has a URL for uploading, and it includes the one rule: "RULES: Do not block or impede the designated photographer."

I had an interesting one of these, as spouse of friend of the bride. They were getting married at a picturesque setting on Cape Cod. It turned out that the photographer was a friend of the bride who didn't even want to do it, but was pressured into doing so by her friend and wasn't even getting paid. She wanted to be able to party rather than shoot. Somehow or other we both figured out what was going on. In the end I basically shot the reception and she did the partying. Not one I've seen before.

At my sister-in-law's wedding it was decided that a longstanding friend of the bride's parents was to do the photography with his Leica.He left the lens cap on the entire time, surprisingly no one noticed so there is not one single "official" photo of the event.

I only ever accepted to take pictures at friends' weddings if I was not the main photographer. This way I could focus on the unusual and escape the mandatory posed photo sessions (which I'm not good at anyway).

Most of them happened before digital (at 46, I have fewer friends getting married ;-) ), and I would typically only shoot b&w with a single cam and lens, and offer the negatives, scans and a few home-made baryte prints as part of my presents.

I know it's important for some wedding photographers to get all sanctimonious about Uncle Bobs -- and I'm sure there are more than a few Uncle Bobs on this forum. But I've also been to more than a few weddings where the photographer was completely out of their depth. I'd like to see a similar article from some real newlyweds who now wish that Uncle Bob would have brought their camera along. I have nothing but the utmost respect for the true wedding pros out there. It's a tough job to do well. Hats off to you all. I couldn't do it. But as the barriers to enter the field have fallen the ratio of true pros to incompetents is skewing in a bad direction.

Literally:My Uncle Bob was a photographer for the Navy and the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institute. He was an exceedingly pedestrian and unenthusiastic photographer. His career was unremarkable. His photos from his twin brother's wedding did not turn out.

The best line I heard back when I was doing weddings came from the bride's mother.

We (bride, her mother and me) were in a small back room of the church, waiting while the guests assembled. I was there hoping to get a few good candids.

The bride was obviously nervous, and began talking to her mother about whether the marriage was a good idea. Her mother also obviously had reservations about this wedding, and told the bride to call it off if she wasn't sure.

But, the bride said, "Oh, I can't do that. People have given us gifts and they have traveled from all over the place to be here today, and besides, we already have that huge cake for the reception."

To which her mother replied, "Honey, if you want to call this off, I will personally eat that whole damn cake."

The couple did marry later that day, and there was a nice reception afterward. And sure enough, they were divorced within a year.

jdu_sg: If you think home inspections have a guarantee, you have not read the fine print. They only guarantee the cost of the inspection - which is a very tiny fraction of the actual cost of the house.

I live err work for the moments.The "I will" moments.. or when the best man starta fishing his pockets for the ring (please note: in some european countries its another job he gets).Imagine her whispering the answer and it drowning in your shutter noise.. Ah you get the picture.I carry a shutterless capable body for certain moments now.*Sigh*

A couple of weeks ago I married my first son off. I shot the rehearsal and dinner party for fun.Day of the wedding I bagged the camera and musingly watched the paid folks hustle. I have yet to see their results, will be interesting.https://flic.kr/s/aHsm3jPFfmPete

I hope you don't mean you spent much of the wedding day with a camera in hand. I've photographed over 600 weddings and the best ones to photograph are where everyone, especially the couple and their immediate families are having fun. Some of the least satisfying ones are where the bride or groom's father is going around photographing everything - or other guests are treating the whole thing as a photo shoot. Otherwise it just becomes me photographing people photographing other people.... I shot a weeding last year where the groom's father spent the whole day with a small camcorder held aloft almost the whole time - it was actually quite funny.That's not to say I object to anyone taking a camera and snapping a few pictures - but a wedding is a celebration and the pictures of the day are marred when the subjects are all photographers. In my opinion. Jim

I retired from shooting weddings in 2011 after 25 years and over 1000 weddings. My son is getting married this month, and was thinking about bringing some of my equipment. After your post, I think I'll stick to having fun and leave the equipment home! When I retired from weddings, it was starting to get bad with the paparazzi, but it must be terrible now. One thing I used to tell myself and other photographers, was to never chase away your backup! But that was when I used film! Thanks!!

@JimP101-- I took the original post to mean he took pictures at the rehearsal and rehearsal dinner but left the camera in the bag for the wedding and wedding reception. Exactly what i did at our son's wedding a few weeks ago.

Never did understand the "black tape" thing as a friend who used it on his Nikon explained it was to deter thieves. When I asked if a thief would not steal your camera because the name was covered with black tape he replied "well it keeps other photographers from asking me questions regarding my camera". To which I replied "I only asked about your camera because of the black tape"No, I am not 'uncle Bob'.

Some reasons for black tape: it makes the camera less visible, you just become a little bit less obvious. It makes it harder for thieves to identify if the grab is worth it (though usualy the size of the camera gives it away anyway). It also gives not so much information away to your competition. It gives less room for stupid gossip like "he's only using a 5d mark TWO!!!".

In case you're a pro shooter, the One reason to never black tape your camera: marketing appeal.

If you're shooting weddings with dozens or hundreds of people around you, you're literally a walking billboard of your own work.

From the clothes you're wearing, to your hair style, to the size of your lenses (yes, there, I said it) to the camera brand you've chosen, it's all part of a marketable package you're building for yourself while in public.

Do you see Hollywood covering their cameras' RED, ARRI logos? No, there's lots of pride in showing the very best is being used.

Same for commercial and fashion. I'm about to see a Phase One or Hasselblad shooter covering their logos.

And same for wedding shooters. Canon has brand power, so does Nikon.

IMO, covering logos is simply a disservice to your own efforts.

You've paid for that logo, you know? Use that brand power to bring in more clients (even if that's just 0.001% true in real life).

I think it depends: I know a photographer using a small leica and a canon 5d with a 50mm 1,2l. Everything is coveres from his cameras and he is walking around fast and invisible. He even choosed a Peak-design-belt that perfectly fits the color of his suit (dark blue). A minimalistic and nice style can be very elegant and professional, without walking around with a billboard in your hands.

But after all, I realy dont think this makes any diffrence at all... while traveling the tape may be a good way to make it a LITTLE bit more diffrent for potention thieves...

I get the discreet thing when doing street photography. I just don''t see how one can be anymore discreet with a DSLR and accompanying lens because they have this small strip of black electrical tape covering the make and model on the camera body? If a thief has the opportunity to grab your camera does he make his decision based on whether it's a newer or older model. How many thieves would know the difference between an 8 yr old Canon 7D or a newer 5D mk4Assuming a thief is that smart then hiding the brand and model with a strip of tape may well be an advertisement saying "this is a valuable camera that I am trying to hide". As far as keeping other photographers from "asking you questions about your camera" only twice in the past 10 yrs do I remember a stranger asking me about the camera I was shooting with, they were either thinking about buying one or already had one and just wanted to know my opinion of the camera.

I have a D5 and its been black taped since day one. It went to Rio Olympics and all around the world and it hasn't been stolen yet. I'm not stupid enough to think that a piece of gaffers tape is going to stop anyone from trying to steal it but if it reduces the bling factor by a few percent than it can't hurt. It's when I'm shooting my kid's sports and local events that it really comes in handy. I don't have to spend time answering questions about it. Never had anyone ask me about it since it's been taped. But back in the D3S era (pre-tape for me) I got asked a lot about :spending that much on a camera."

I always assumed it was because you didn't want the word Nikon or Canon to be reflected in your subject's eyes. But if you let your camera get beat up, it looks fairly bad a-- to have gaff tape on it. Otherwise, most people don't have good enough eyes to be able to see the brand when you're moving.

Thanks for that information. Last time I was in Brazil my brother in law who is a surgeon in Petropolis hired a driver and an armed guard to accompany my wife and I when we wanted to tour Rio. Had I known about the gaffers tape I could have saved him the trouble.At my kids soccer games I had a couple of parents inquire about my Canon 2.8 70-200 and 400mm lens but never about my camera. Do you wrap your lenses with gaffers tape too?

I've never taped up my cameras but I can see the attraction. I completely disagree with Marcio above - I don't feel the need to advertise what gear I use. I actually get a perverse pleasure out of getting good pictures with lesser gear. I do use a plain leather strap on my camera which gets rid of the horrible logo's on the makers strap. Not aimed at anyone here - but I do think some less confident photographers think having high-end gear gives them more credibility. My experience is that people judge you on your pictures not the gear.Jim

Take it from Marco who lives in Brazil. The point being there are some places in the world where you will get robbed no matter what. Having lived in NYC my whole life I didn't think RIo could be much worse. I couldn't have been more wrong. Drivers don't even stop at red lights for fear of being carjacked.If gaffers tape makes you feel more secure then go for it. Camera straps devoid of logos mean nothing to a thief.

Please don't take my orginal comment the wrong way -- it was not meant as any disrepect t to the fine people of Rio. I loved my time there and the people notihng but gracious, welcoming and hospitable. At the same time we were bombarded by warnings from local police and Olympic officials regarding gangs and individual thieves targeting cameras. Probably would have received similar advice in any major city but they really drove it hard in Rio for some reason.

Just a reminder to young photographers out there. Guests cannot read your mind. Communicate. If you need them out of your way, tell them. Always look around, make eye contact, use hand gestures if you need to. I have no problem playing traffic cop - at times I've waved momarazzi out of the aisle, or given uncle bob a stern look and a stop signal to keep him out of my shot. The rest of the time smile, but be direct. People are odd that way - if you act like you're in charge, they tend to do what you tell them - at least for a while. And, remember weddings are fun, so pick your spots, you're not there to direct.

Cant agree more. Also remember: you are basicaly only another service person. The photographer is not the ultra-ultra-ultra-important guy. You don't know how close uncle bob is to the couple, maybe he is their best friend and was there for them their entire life. he has every right to take every picture he likes.

If people get in the way I try to get around them or kindly ask them to wait a second. On group shots (if people are around) I have this technique: I ask the group to first look at this iphone, than at this iphone, than at uncle bob -> now everyone got one good shot on their camera with straight eyes and THAN I ask them to leave and give me a moment. So every guest is happy and the entire group can now look undistracted to me. Usualy people with phones just want to grab one quick shot from the nice looking & posed group - why shouldnt they? If I give them the chance to take the shot, they are suddenly surprised, (sometimes even embarassed) take the shot quickly and disapear.

I remember an old case on 'The People's Court' when a bride sued her college friend for doing a shoddy job on her wedding shoot.

The girl had used disposable cameras. (this was before digital)

Wapner dismissed her case. She'd only paid her friend $300 and the friend had never made any claim at being a pro or even owning an SLR. The photos weren't terrible for a disposable camera. Wapner said she got her money's worth.

Lovely article. I am not making any money from photography, but all my friends wanted and still want me to bring my camera(s) to their weddings and / or to their kids weddings - so I have the official role of unofficial photographer, sort of "uncle Bob". But let me tell you this: a gray haired guy with a tux, a bowtie (usually) and a camera hanging around his neck is far more relaxed than the poor official photo team sweating to get the right shots, so I had my moments of glory when I have captured some soul touching visuals. Funny moments are plenty as well: I remember one recent wedding where someone very young called me, because of the Leica M, "old hipster"!!!... Also, when using a heavy DSLR as "uncle Bob", even if I bring only one lens, many of the official wedding photographers borrowed me a second one, or a flash unit etc. Must be because of the bowtie...:):):)

Wedding photography without a license should be illegal. Inexperienced photographers do couples a disservice by shooting crap photos. Just kidding about the first statement, but my sentiment is based on fact. I should have never tried to shoot a wedding. I had no training and would never have qualified for the license, but I did shoot weddings a few times, and I actually got paid. The photos were o.k., but those poor couples had no idea what they were getting themselves into. I think most of the time that's the way goes. I had virtually no documentary experience, and having a "nice camera" did not qualify me to be shooting weddings. I had never even worked as a second shooter before I shot my first wedding - in the dark . . . with the built-in, on-camera flash. Do yourself a favor - if you're going to get the cheapest wedding photographer you can find, at least make it someone who has shot for newspapers professionally or something like that for a few years.

Shot about 800 weddings up to 2001. Intending to get back into it. A lot of photographers look down on wedding shooters. But I have also been an editorial photographer for years and shot everything from sport to fashion and medical to interiors... you name it. Nothing is as hard work as a wedding. Or as challenging overall technically and creatively. Maybe having a second shooter to assist with standard shots would free some time for the more enjoyable creative opportunities. Getting a brides dress to look exactly that shade of ivory she chose is something that takes up the first 50 weddings you shoot. Recording all aspects for posterity and including creative hero shots is a huge organisational challenge. I would get home sometimes after midnight and wring the sweat out of my shirt and collapse having sat down maybe 20 mins in ten hours and been mentally hyper focused the whole time. But I never messed up once. Worst was standing outside a home wedding venue waiting for the bride to arrive and wondering why it had got so quiet. I had not checked my brief and the couple were in the backyard halfway through their vows. I managed to set up afterwards mostly what I had missed and they never even noticed! I was going through an ugly divorce at the time and about to move interstate and my mind was elsewhere. You have to be super focused with weddings or suffer the consequences. Have a backup for the backup for everything from transport to your gear. I loved the look on the couples faces when they got the shots. And liked even more the numerous unsolicited letters of thanks about how I calmed them on the day and stepped in when necessary and guided things back on course. I had one bride get cold feet and arrive 90 mins late. One couple separated on their honeymoon and payment looked doubtful. The mother of the groom took pity on me and paid and took the photos. After a few years of pleasing the clients the phone would ring and somebody would say " You shot my friends wedding and I want you in a years time." Cold clients would become the minority of your future bookings. That can also be your demise. In my case my divorce and a family death close together forced me to hand my books over to a few other photographer friends. That set me back effectively 18 months of dependable income and having to find employment in another non photography field.

I love the Uncle bob types in a wedding.... they make good subjects and they are usually fun to talk with. Once I shot a pic of an uncle bob who was shooting with his Leica and lens cap closed. I showed him the pic and we had a good laugh.

At least uncle bobs won't get in the way as the Facebook generation does with her brand new iPhones and iPads. These are the people who posts the bride's photos before the bride gets to do it.... and their stupid phones always get in the frame.

So right! Facebook generation tend to forget however that during a wedding there are a lot of "decisive moments". One year ago I have told someone (young, "FB gen") something about a guy called Henri (Cartier-Bresson) and how to treat a wedding as...street photography (yes, you heared that right), because the smartphone can be very good at it. She looked very preocupied the entire evening but she got 2 wonderful shots. So...uncle Bob should use patience and teach FB gen some tricks. :)

I never had an uncle bob get in the way during a wedding. They may own 1Ds series cameras with 70-200L, while I would be using a 50D type cameras but they knew that I was being paid to do the hard yakka and I respect that.People who love and understand photography do not get in the way of pro. shooting for bread and butter. We just make fun of Uncle bobs, but they are not the bad guys here.

Only because of these uncle bobs, the photography industry manages to sell a lot of high end gear which eventually brings R&D costs down and working pros and other hobbyists can actually afford cameras.

I have seen people taking videos on their stupid mobile phones while the bride had already hired two pro videographers - who were already shooting with very high end cameras! ...at least 10 people were shooting video on their phones!

A couple of times I have been roped into shooting for friends and family instead of them hiring a pro - looking to save some money.

What a horrible stress-filled gig. Never again without being paid a lot !

Abiding memory was a nephews wedding in the winter in Northern England, with it raining a LOT and a venue that was historical but also very dark.

Nikon speed light to the rescue and some available light where possible. I am relieved that an available light photo on a D300 at 3200ISO is not so noisy that the couple have an 8x10 on their wall still to this day.

Much respect to people who do this for a living. I would rather rip off my arm and beat myself around the head with it. :)

I also had a Rotary friend insist that I take the pictures for her son's wedding in Southern California. She was from Indonesia, he was there temporarily, but the bride was a SoCal girl.

The wonderful thing was to be able to follow the couple all day long and after the wedding. The other wonderful thing was that the ceremony and reception were on a yacht cruising the harbor at Sunset, so lots of great ambient light shots, some fill flash.

Uncle Bob and all his friends were in front, in the way, but when I tugged on their shoulder they politely stepped aside... by 2 ft. The images turned out great, especially the lovely scenes in the garden with the couple, and some creative vertical shots from the ground looking up past them two ceiling lights. Turned over all the digital images and they praised my work.

I photographed weddings twice not as 'Uncle' but rather as 'Friend' Bob - because the couple asked me to do so. First both couples wanted me as the 'Pro' for their weddings but I kindly refused it and advised them to hire a real Pro.

I didn't want to do them as I have an old aps-c rig, not suitable for weddings... then I saw the 'Pro' arriving to one of the weddings with two Canon 600Ds equipped with incredibly fast lenses like the 10-18 STM, or 40mm STM... shame. I saw the pictures then (I purposefully don't call them photographs) - and he even accepted money for it!

The second guy did a much better job, had more expertise and proper gear.

I took always the second best spot when taking pictures and made sure not to bother the hired photographer. BUT I attached the battery grip of course! :D (not to show off, but because it really helped with portraits). I screwed up only a few shots and the couples were happy with the additional coverage. :)

I have shot a number of weddings as the back up photographer, the most annoying thing is the the iphone or blackberry shoved in front of you while trying to shoot the cake cutting. Something you cannot re-create.I have found that my photos have been the preferred version of the wedding. I have yet to see any of the pro photos from these weddings which does annoy me at times.

A total waste of money! You only need a shot of the Happy Couple cutting the cake and maybe a family shot. Otherwise very very few of the guests will ever buy, look at or even remember the Wedding by the following week!

I always told the couples that I'm not working only for them, but also for their grandchildren. Good wedding photographers are aware that they are creating part of a family archive, which will not only record the event, but become a documentary source for generations. For those of us interested in our roots or family history, wedding photographers do an important job.

Now and then I take on an Uncle Bob role but only to take a shot of the Bride and Groom for my wife! I applied the same rule at my eldest daughter's wedding and told the snapper that I only wanted to see one shot that summed up the whole event. He did and it's still up there on their wall!

There's no particular artistic talent or fancy gear needed for wedding pictures - it all follows a set routine! It's not a movie set just people having fun!

"I applied the same rule at my eldest daughter's wedding and told the snapper that I only wanted to see one shot that summed up the whole event."Did you ask your daughter how she felt about your "Rule"?

Hello Eric: Well guess that it's not a Rule as such as it only happened once! Yes I did as my soon to be Son-in-Law didn't want any pictures at all! Of course the snapper was at liberty to take as many pictures as he wanted but I actually never noticed him at all during the 12 hours event! I'll post a link to the "one shot" next up...

OK Eric - you are correct - it was my daughters day! Of course I asked her and she was content about it as long as she had control of the final choice. If you have looked the link above you will note that she is happy and smiling although of course at that moment of course she would be! She choose it as it told the story of her wedding - memories and anecdotes of the day were and still are in our minds 20 years later! A whole lot better than a thousand pictures I suggest...

Sorry to say, but for me, personally weddings would be one of the most boring and annoying things to shoot (at least the traditional ones). Let us see how they arranged the documentation for an upcoming one I am going to attend.(note: you might find it the best thing since sliced bread, and the stuff that interests me you might yawn about, and that is fine).

Each to their own, but I found architectural photography dead boring.Weddings demand all skills you have as a photographer, I fail to see at what point you have time to feel bored.During a 10 hour wedding I sit down for a maximum of 20 minutes - there is never a point during a wedding when you don't have anything to shoot, hence why "boredom" is completely foreign to me in this context.

Of course each to their own, but in some locales, "wedding photography" would be almost the equivalent of mug shots, uh I mean documentary, of every guest who attended the wedding, and nothing else. These are group photos of different combination of guests depending on their relationships with the bride and groom mostly. A high school kid could have done the job with a tripod, some fixed lens sent to auto focus, and be able to hit the shutter button. Of course if he had some skills, he could have count to 3 and ask the guests to say 'cheese' before he fires the shutter. That's the most boring type of photography a monkey could almost have been able to do.

I agree that it demands every skill you have (at least I can imagine it does, since I have never seriously shot one). I was talking more about the subject itself (all these cliched black and white weddings, but of course may be just my personal aversion). But as you (and I) have pointed out, you find architectural photography boring.

About "mug shots" . . . I didn't even do that. I SHOULD have done that, but I didn't think to. I just shot a couple of group photos and the bride and groom together. I left it up to them to pick what group shots they wanted other than that. When I tried wedding photography a few times, I had no idea what I was doing as a "wedding photographer" . . . so the photos didn't turn out like a professional shot the wedding. I guess that's what couples get when they refuse to pay for a pro. I think it's sad, but maybe they're happy. I'm not. Shooting weddings as a totally inexperienced wedding photographer is something I regret. I should have never done that disservice to those couples. At least I was honest and told them I was not experienced shooting weddings.

I know these "mug shots" (I mean group photos) are not the norm in most countries, but in Hong Kong/China it is the predominent type of wedding photography. Reason 1 is that they make the most money for the photographer, because typically they set up mobile print stations at the venue and immediately print out hard copies and distribute to the guests - they amount to revenue per print. Imagine the other pictures taken during the ceremony - why would anyone other than the bride & groom themselves who would buy these prints? Reason 2 is that these typical weddings are big parties for both side's extended families, colleagues and friends, and the older folks treat these group photo sessions as an important part of a wedding.

I'm over 600 weddings in, and it's a wonderful life. The gear's so good today it's hard to miss. Clients give us so much on wedding day, and it's joy to get caught up in their emotional whirlwind. You hold on to your esthetic values and plow through countless settings and situations, like a gauntlet that doesn't stop. Then tomorrow, you do it again.

I was once a guest at wedding in Poland where a very friendly photographer was taking candid shots of the guests before the evening reception. After half an hour or so it was announced that the bride a groom would be arriving shortly, so all the guests lined up and the photographer got in the ready position to document their big arrival. When the doors opened and they stepped through, there was a hushed gasp from the photographer, who stopped shooting, rushed to the corner of her room where her bag was, and checked her mobile phone. 30 seconds later she could be seen sprinting out of the courtyard to her car. Turns out she'd mistaken the venue and was photographing the wrong guests!

I never did find out if she made it to the correct wedding on time, but I did feel very sorry for her!

To this day I'm still wondering whether it was the arrival of the (unfamiliar) couple that made her realise, or the fact that there was another wedding photographer in tow. I'm guessing she'd been very professional to switch her mobile to silent for the ceremony, but can't help thinking that that might have been her undoing!

I shot weddings from 1975 until about a year ago. Many in fact while keeping my day job. I did meet a few stereotype Uncle Bobs or Aunty Bobettes, but I have always remembered that I was also Uncle Geoff and still am.Some of the weddings I shot were for brides who considered me as "Uncle Geoff" even though we were not related. Everyone starts somewhere. Even though I have basically "retired" from wedding photography I may still be called upon as Uncle Geoff to photograph some weddings that haven't happened yet. I will enjoy that. What a privilege to photograph someones wedding. I estimate I probably shot about 200 weddings over the journey. You never shoot the perfect wedding but it's great when you come close. It isn't for everyone but you can learn how to make it work in spite of issues that may arise.

I shot weddings throughout the 1970s while I was in college. Mamiya RB67 (the original, before the Pro S), and a Mamiya Universal press camera — both running 220 color print roll film. Metering was courtesy of a Gossen Luna Pro hanging around my neck. Flash done with a Braun RL 500 with 510-volt battery pack slung over my shoulder and a Honeywell Strobonar 770 "potato masher."

I didn't have the saccharin sweet persona that a wedding photog really needs to deal with astonishingly annoying and intrusive people. Playing psychologist and referee to battling family factions just wasn't my idea of a good time, consequently, I hated it. But, boy, the money was really, really good.

back in the 60s I shot a wedding for friends only to discover I hadn't loaded my terrible Russian Kiev 88 full frame camera carefully enough and lost the whole family shot series as the film failed to wind on. Scarred for life after that! The Kiev 88 was a very bad copy of a Hasselblad, I finally made the fatal mistake of trying to change shutter speed before winding on the film-that caused instant lockup and need for factory repair - I threw it away.

I hated doing weddings, my partner and I were even sued for not getting all the photos at one event but the bride and groom changed from the agreed 3 hour shoot to just 30min of shooting time when we arrived. We settled out of course but wedding are a living hell in my opinion. If you are a wedding photographer then I bow down to you and your patience.

Did you have time to meet up with them for an informal chat in advance - for them to get to know you and vice versa? If so, did you "click"?This would minimize the risk of them treating you like dirt on the day - you are not just a stranger turning up for their wedding to take photos. What they did sounds absolutely absurd and if this is exactly what happened, I find it even more absurd if you paid them. It's like being told by a mechanic that it will take 3 hours to fix your car - you then turn up after 30 minutes and demand a freebee because it isn't ready.

smokinman88 probably didn't realize that he needed to let the couple know at the time they cut the time to half an hour that they were not going to get a refund and that they would not be getting the photos they paid for, if they insisted on cutting the photography time short. That is what a confident and experienced wedding photographer would do in such a situation, I'm sure . . . or the couple would have a valid case, since they obviously had no idea what they were doing or the consequences of their actions at the time.

Part 1: Interesting to see times have not really changed. I did very intensive wedding photography between 1977 and 1996 - was a 'highly sought after photographer for weddings' YES!! Then deliberately drew a line - 'No More' - ... well only one : in 2013 for my best friend. Somewhere around 1990 it began to dawn on me how crazy my and Wedding photography in general had become. As if we the photographer were more important as say the Wedding officials. We created the most striking posed images. I won the Dutch national Wedding photo championship by Kodak 3 times (never repeated by any photographer) , yet I was not happy. What was ( and still is ) wrong?We photographers tend to milk every creative opportunity out of a wedding and bypass the real emotions of that day. Instead we create our own emotions and force those upon the innocent wedding couple & family.

"We photographers tend to milk every creative opportunity out of a wedding and bypass the real emotions of that day. Instead we create our own emotions and force those upon the innocent wedding couple & family."

Depends what kind of wedding photographer you are. I never take over the wedding and force my creativity upon people. I discretely photograph the wedding as it happens and do whatever I can not to spoil the precious moments of raw emotions. Couples are often vocal about how much they appreciate that they hardly noticed me on the day.

Depends on the client I suppose. In Canada we have a pot pouri of cultures and traditions. Certainly there is a market for photojournalism style fly on the wall wedding photography but you get a lot of different expectations from various cultures. Some want ultra modern enviro portraits where they are so small you can hardly see them to 80's style "fill the frame and look at the camera" on every single shot. And for most it's a combination of PJ, product, event, and portraitist photography. Today I had a bride upset with her hair. If I had captured only raw emotions her bridal prep pics would be a mix of tears and frowns. So our job these days to recreate the day on the fly as they'll likely remember it later. Posing that's not posing. Emotive suggestions vs "smile". Using these as starting points and letting them take over. For the ceremony and reception it's almost always PJ style. I love it. It's stressful and exhausting but also a rush. What a commercial photography spends half a day setting lighting up (I know, I do some too), a wedding photographer has minutes, if not seconds, to assess the scene and manipulate the light available or create it. Today's wedding photographer has to know great timing and great creativity.

Part 2:Towards the end of my wedding career I had noticed that most photos re-ordered where those with real intimate moments between Wedding couple and their family / friends , my creative poses in a park or crazy location where rarely if ever re-ordered. Yet I won prizes with just these images and thus thought 'I do well'. Slowly I changed my wedding photo strategy and focussed on the real emotions of the day. Made only a very few posed images of couple and family and friends. All in all I shot maybe 100 images (on film 35mm and 6x6 ) during a wedding. Out of it composed a wedding album with about 40 highlights all on large format. And tell you what: It was a runaway success. I could charge as much as I wanted.

i don't shoot weddings but a friend of the family once convinced to shoot one which I agreed to after being assured they were hiring a pro wedding photographer. Kinda good, Uncle Bob, (product photographer) I was there because the pro forgot to find out who all the family members were and he missed the groom's grandmother among others. (and btw for color out of a Canon i would rather see a 1 series even an old one rather than Canon's other lines (with the exception of the 5Ds and 5Dsr, which are good too.)

I have shot just over 300 weddings since I started in 2008, and Uncle Bobs have never bothered me. You are everyone's friend on a wedding day and have to work around guests who are eager to capture the special moments. Blending in and adapting has to be part of your skill set. Getting annoyed and telling people off means you have not quite understood you role. Furthermore, you have to consider each wedding a business opportunity - being grumpy and bossy will not get you any recommendations as people will remember you for all the wrong reasons.

The Panasonic FZ1000 II is a worthy successor to the company's first large-sensor, long-zoom bridge camera, and a value-conscious rival to the popular Sony RX10-series. It's just as fast as its predecessor but produces nicer JPEGs, has significantly improved controls and interface, and more.

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